724 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



like Lou Pan, a famous mechanician of the time of Confucius, now 

 patron of the cari)entcrs. Adored in every shop by all the patrons 

 and clerks, the festivals of the protecting genius are celebrated 

 by the whole corporation at fixed dates. To some divinities a 

 sacrifice of meats and incense is offered in each warehouse, after 

 which all the chiefs and the men employed take part, while the 

 spirit is supposed to be present. To others, more rarely, a more 

 bountiful sacrifice is made in a temple, and the banquet, held in a 

 large hall, is enlivened by dramatic entertainments. The patron 

 is also duly honored in the celebration of the general feasts of 

 the Chinese people. 



The corporations have tribunals of arbitration and a common 

 treasury, but the method of operation of those departments is 

 among the things they do not reveal to the public. I have only 

 learned a few general facts on the subject. The corporations inter- 

 vene, I have been told, in the disputes of the members and to pre- 

 vent dishonest dealings and attempts to cheat one another, but I 

 have not learned that they have any real judiciary authority. 

 Their treasury is sustained by means of assessments and fines, and 

 loans may be contracted on its account, for the salt merchants of 

 Tientsin are still paying interest on a number of debts contracted 

 by the corporation in the last century. 



Great differences might be expected to exist between the cor- 

 porations in respect to these points and many others. They have 

 been constituted at different epochs, independently of one another, 

 and are similar only in their essential features. The minimum 

 price fixed by the assembly is not equally imperative in all. Thus, 

 the price fixed by the fur merchants at the beginning of the winter 

 -does not bind the members. In most branches of commerce all 

 the houses composing the corporation are on a footing of substan- 

 tial equality, though, of course, the large banks prevail over the 

 small brokers, but there is no unlikencss in the business or the 

 situation. The policy of the tea trade is mainly controlled in 

 Peking by the houses of the families Fang and Oou. They fix the 

 price, determine the equivalence of weight (the standard is a pound 

 of four ounces instead of sixteen), and lead the corporation. In 

 fact, the retail dealers use their capital in the decoration of their 

 shops with gilding and sculpture, at a cost of between sixteen hun- 

 dred and twa thousand dollars, while the goods are lent them by 

 one of the importers, who holds the decoration as security, so that 

 the whole corporation is in the hands of these two families. This 

 is a special condition, and there is nothing else like it, even among 

 other importers of southern products. "While most branches of 

 trade are independent of official action, slaughter houses, of which 



